We've yet to see a firstblade, a drinker or a beetleform. They may have also been foil uncommons or rares.

+1 for Fluxcharger, he was pretty relentless in my pre-release (well that and Nivix Cyclops) If we do go 4 colour I would pick Riot Control as it's just amazing in limited.

+1 Fluxcharger. Good but not great. I've found that there are drafts when I pick him highly but don't play him -- mostly because izzet is not super strong in this format. On the other hand, good blocker to set up our let game, plus flying.

We do know that removal is at a premium in this format, and both runner's bane and fatal fumes are decent; and decent is the best we can hope for at common. I also think weapon surge is good, but another one will come along.

My experience with runner's bane has been pretty mediocre. it's not hard to bump a creature up to 3 for a turn -- there are a few pump effects and some +1/+1 counters in this set that can create really bad blowouts when you think that a creature is taken care of, and suddenly he's untapped and bigger than ever -- a zero-for-one trade.

Fatal Fumes is an instant. that makes it better than runner's bane in my book. It kills plenty of small-to-medium creatures, especially during combat.

Let's also not overlook Maze Rusher. He's one of the best maze creatures.

As for the privacy issue, let's just keep it here. Only about half our team has accessed the google doc, and this is the clear central meeting place. Honor system is a go.

I hope Maze Rusher tables back to us personally.

+1 Fluxcharger. he's got potential to be a trick. I like tricks.

Pack 1.5: According to the post earlier.

Steam Vents

Protect Serve

Battering Krasis

Boros Cluestone

Maze Sentinel

Mindstatic

Morgue Burst

Rakdos Drake

Riot Piker

Sinister Possession

Viashino Firstblade

Vents or Firstblade.

+1 Rakdos Drake

I would love steam vents 3 picks from now. Only other pick I could see considering is krasis but I'm not as big on it as drake.

Steam vents might not be the worst choice. The drake is probably better. An argument could be made for the Krasis, but I'm not a fan of it. Morgue burst is decent enough, but is another thing at 6.

So I think drake / vents / burst/ krasis.

I said vents or firstblade. We're kind of committed to red/blue already. firstblade is a bomb common that's splashable to pick up. Vents will just feed our mana pool for our already red/blue leaning deck and maybe allow us to splash for a third color.

I disagree on firstblade in this format. I think it's great in dgm/gtc/rtr but there are a ton of high defense creatures in dgm. It will likely get one hit in at 4/4 before it becomes a 2/2 that can't swing into all the big defense creatures in the format.

+1 Viashino Firstblade.

I've had nothing but good experiences with that guy. Drake is good too. But, I'd take the firstblade over the drake. For 3 mana, the Drake is almost strictly worse than the Wind Drake we passed up.

The Steam Vents are making me drool. If this was a real life draft, I might prioritize those higher. As is, I think the drake or the firstblade is better.

My gut says firstblade, but I also keep thinking that the drake has good body. at 2/3 flying/can't block, it can attack into wind drakes all day. I like to reserve my votes until I see some discussion.

At the same time, is it too early to be thinking about good mana fixing? The only reason I ask is because blue spells seem to be at a premium already from what little experience I have in limited, so would it be a good idea to think about the mana fixing now that we are getting down almost to the common only stages of pack one?

I agree to an extent, but considering we are likely going to three colors easy, I don't think it's a bad idea.

Steam Vents is a really good option. Aetherling is a super bomb and very likely to in our final deck. So, even if we hit a stockpile of really good red or black or whatever cards, the Vents will make him more accessible and easier to splash. And if we do go blue he is that much easier to combine with other colors.

If we went that way, I would not be upset. I'm not as sold on the drake. As a 2/3 it can attack all day long, but wind drakes can swing right back. And one high toughness defender and we've got a 2/3 flying paperweight.

I agree.

+1 Steam Vents.

I still think the Firstblade is a really great card. If we see another, I think we should go for it. But, I think I've talked myself into the Vents.

Aetherling is currently our primary win condition, and a damn good one at that, e need to be concerned about being able to play it and remain flexible.

I'm on board. +1 SV

I like the Steam Vents, but Riot Piker is a major beast in limited. Its hard to deal with him because of first strike and he draws a ton of hate. Which is good, because he takes that hate away from our actual win-cons. I'm not giving him my vote, in fact, I'm with KorSplicer in that I'd like to wait until further discussion to make my vote.But my top 3 are the Piker, Steam Vents and the Drake

I concur that Piker is good. Especially backed up with some blood rush.

Piker will wheel imo. I'd take firstblade or drake ahead of piker every time.

On the subject of the piker. We need to keep our mana curve in mind. We have 2x 4 CMC items and 2x 6 CMC items. If we're going to go with Superman's newer brother we need to think about surviving the early game.

We are going to need to keep our eyes open for some strong early drops. Not that I think now is the time to grab him, but we will need him or something like him down the road.

I think at this point, however, we shouldn't take the piker. For some reason, people don't value him (probably because of his fragile 1 toughness), so we might be able to get him later.

+1 Steam Vents

I don't like splashing for the Firstblade. I wouldn't call him a bomb either. Sure, its 4 unexpected damage, but after that turn he's a vanilla 2/2. After 2 turns, hes actually less efficient than your average 3 drop 3/3 bear.

Eh. The format is slow and the early 4 damage is a very valid thing for something you can swing with on turn 3. He often gives an early advantage or removes a significant blocker. Long term, yeah, you're going to need to follow up with something. He's very aggro. He does really pair well with the piker!

There's not a lot of really great green items flowing our way. There's only 1 green card in this lot. Is the group(s) passing us cards favoring green? I think so!